Category: Family Issues

"Conservatives need a social justice agenda of their own." So writes Arthur Brooks, president of the Washington D.C.-based American Enterprise Institute, in a new article for Commentary magazine.
Brooks main question is this: How can conservatives overcome the widespread perception that they care little for the poor, while progressives care significantly? The transformation begins, Brooks writes, by articulating a conservative social-justice agenda:
Conservative leaders owe it to their followers and the vulnerable to articulate a positive social-justice agenda for the right. It must be tangible, practical, and effective. And it must start with the following question: What do the most vulnerable members of society need? This means asking the poor themselves.
Brooks builds his case on three pillars:
Moral transformation: Fostering the values of faith, family, community, and work.
Material relief: Encouraging individual charity and building a social safety net that...

Dr. Peter Frank, the Free Enterprise Fellow for the Jesse Helms Center and an economics professor at Wingate University, has authored a new report on the consequences of family breakdown in the United States (PDF download here):
Researchers from multiple disciplines have investigated the impact of family breakdown on society. The effects on children have garnered attention as research examines the psychological impact of one versus two parent families, the incidence of teenage pregnancy, juvenile crime rates, a drop off in educational attainment, and declining birthrates in advanced industrial countries.
Additional research indicates family breakdown has economic consequences in terms of increased poverty which often manifests in significantly lower income for female single-headed households. While both the definition of marriage and family and the economic impact of family breakdown remain fundamental policy issues, two principal questions require further consideration:
1. What...

Values & Capitalism, an initiative of the American Enterprise Institute, has released a new book discussing the economic consequences of breakdown in family structure in the United States:
Since the 1950s, divorces and out-of-wedlock births in America have risen dramatically. This has significantly affected the economic well-being of the country’s most vulnerable populations. In "Home Economics: The Consequences of Changing Family Structure, Nick Schulz argues that serious consideration of the consequences of changing family structure is sorely missing from conversations about American economic policy and politics. Apprehending a complete picture of this country’s economic condition will be impossible if poverty, income inequality, wealth disparities, and unemployment alone are taken into consideration, claims Schulz.
Click here to purchase the book, or watch the video below.
Here is an excerpt from the first chapter, available in PDF download:
This project was...